Nightwing by Dixon, Absolute Batman Inc, Green Lantern by Johns, Zero Year and Five Years Later Omnibuses, Death of the Family Mask, Gordon of Gotham, Showcase Presents Blue Beetle, more in DC Fall 2014 solicitations

Spring may be on its way, but it's beginning to feel a lot like the holidays with news of DC Comics's Fall 2014 trade paperback and hardcover collections. There are many, many of these, so I'm just going to list them alphabetically with commentary where applicable, but here's some highlights:

Nightwing: Bludhaven, the start of a new collection of the Chuck Dixon Nightwing series. Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus. Batman: Death of the Family Mask and Book Set (ew!). Absolute Batman Incorporated. Absolute Batman: Haunted Knight. A black-and-white reprint of Batman: The Long Halloween. Batman: Gordon of Gotham. A proper collection of Batman: Dark Night, Dark City. Secret Six Vol. 1: Villains United, the start of a new set of Secret Six collections. DC Zero Year and Five Years Later Omnibuses. More Mike Grell Green Arrow volumes, and more John Ostrander Martian Manhunter and Spectre volumes. Showcase Presents: Blue Beetle from the 1980s. A Gotham Sirens collection. A Flash (classic) Omnibus, and Flash and Teen Titans anniversary volumes. JLA Vol. 6 with Joe Kelly material. And more, and more.

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All of this information is subject to change, so if you see something that doesn't quite please you, possibly it'll be fixed before publication.

• Absolute Batman Incorporated

Collects the entire Batman, Inc. saga -- pre-Flashpoint, post-Flashpoint, the works. Maybe I'm naive but I'm surprised to see this so quickly after the series wrapped (though, probably best that DC struck while interest in this series is still high). Given how Batman, Inc. ultimately didn't affect the DCU that much, I'm a little sorry I didn't wait for this volume.

• Absolute Batman: Haunted Knight

Not only does this collect a couple of Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale Batman specials that ultimately inspired Long Halloween and Dark Victory (and which I've enjoyed for a while), this also includes Loeb and Sale's Catwoman: When in Rome miniseries. As both a prelude and bookend to Long Halloween and Dark Victory, I'm thinking this would look good on my shelf.

• Adventures of Superman Vol. 2

• All Star Western Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Ame-comi Girls Vol. 3: Earth in Crisis

• Animal Man Vol. 5: Evolve or Die! (The New 52)

• Animal Man Vol. 7: Red Plague

Another collection of the previous 1990s Animal Man series; I'm so pleased to see DC mining this era with Animal Man and also Martian Manhunter, Spectre, Nightwing, and etc. Collects issues #64-79.

• Aquaman and the Others Vol. 1

• Aquaman Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Authority Vol. 2

• Batgirl Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Batman - Detective Comics Vol. 5: Gothtopia (The New 52)

Collects Detective Comics #25-29, so not the tie-in chapters of "Gothtopia," but it does include the extra-sized Detective Comics #27.

• Batman Adventures Vol. 1

Collects the Batman Adventures comic #1-10 by Kelley Puckett and Ty Templeton.

• Batman and Robin Vol. 5: The Big Burn (The New 52)

The next Batman and Robin collection includes Batman and Robin #23.1: Two-Face, and then also issues #24-28.

• Batman Arkham Asylum 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

In deluxe format for the first time, I think. There will also be a 25th anniversary paperback.

• Batman Noir: The Long Halloween

In my opinion, one of the coolest things on this list is this Batman Noir: Long Halloween collection, which reprints the Long Halloween series in black and white. It's a great story to start, and reading it in black and white on nice paper sounds like a great experience.

• Batman Vol. 5: Zero Year-Dark City

Collects issues #25-31. There's still some uncollected issues from between the end of Death of the Family and the beginning of Zero Year, but I'm still confident those will be collected somewhere eventually.

• Batman: Blink

Collects Legends of the Dark Knight #156-158 and #164-167, written by Dwayne McDuffie and drawn by Val Semeiks.

• Batman: Dark Night, Dark City

Written by Peter Milligan with art by Kieron Dwyer, the popular "Dark Night, Dark City" story inspired Grant Morrison's Batman RIP stories. We saw the three-part story (Batman #452-454) in a DC Comics Presents volume a couple years back, but now it's getting a proper collection alongside five Detective Comics issues, #629-633, also by Milligan.

• Batman: Death of the Family Mask and Book Set

I understood the Batman: Night of the Owls book and mask set -- the owls wore masks, the mask was a pretty simple design, etc. But I can't even imagine what the mask of the Joker's mutilated face is going to look like, and I can't imagine wanting to put that on my own face, unless you're reenacting that Suicide Squad scene with Deadshot and Harley Quinn. Enjoy, folks.

• Batman: Eternal Vol. 1

Collects issues #1-20 of the weekly series.

• Batman: Gordon of Gotham

Collects a couple of Commissioner Gordon-focused miniseries from the late 1990s: Batman: Gordon of Gotham, Batman: GCPD, and Batman: Gordon's Law, written by Dennis O'Neil and Chuck Dixon. I think we can credit a certain upcoming show for this one.

• Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Vol. 3

• Batman: The Dark Knight Unwrapped: David Finch

Collects David Finch's work from the pre- and post-Flashpoint Batman: Dark Knight series in black and white, plus the Batman: The Return one-shot.

• Batman/Superman Vol. 2 (The New 52)

• Batwing Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Batwoman Vol. 5: Webs (The New 52)

• Birds of Prey Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Catwoman Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Constantine Vol. 3 (The New 52)

• DC Comics - The New 52: Five Years Later Omnibus
• DC Comics: Zero Year (The New 52)

Two new omnibuses on their way: one collects the upcoming September 2014 Five Years Later event (following Villains Month, Zero Month, and so on); the other collects the issue #25 tie-ins to Batman's Zero Year, including Action Comics, Flash, and etc.

• DC Universe Vs. Masters of the Universe

• DC: The New Frontier

A paperback collection of Darwyn Cooke's DC: New Frontier, including the Justice League: The New Frontier special that was not collected in the Absolute edition.

• Deathblow

• Dream State: The Collected Dreaming Covers
• Dust Covers: The Collected Sandman Covers

These two books collect the Dreaming and Sandman covers, (obviously) with commentary by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean.

• Earth 2 Vol. 4: The Dark Age (The New 52)

• Flash Omnibus Vol. 1

• Flash Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Flash: A Celebration of 75 years

In time for the Flash's 75th anniversary, the omnibus collects Showcase #4, 8, 13, and 14 and Flash #105-132, going along with the classic Green Lantern Omnibus released not too long ago (not a Flash by Waid omnibus, sorry). No word yet on the contents of the 75 Years volume.

• Forever Evil
• Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S. (The New 52)
• Forever Evil: Arkham War (The New 52)
• Forever Evil: Blight
• Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion (The New 52)

Collecting the various Forever Evil miniseries. The Arkham War book includes Batman #23.4: Bane, Detective Comics #23.3: Scarecrow, and Batman and Robin #23.1: Two-Face, along with the miniseries. Rogues Rebellion includes the Flash villain issues #23.1: Grodd and 23.3: Rogues (Flash #23.2: Reverse-Flash is in the Flash Vol. 4: Reverse collection).

• Gotham City Sirens Book One

This is a strange one, but Paul Dini, Tony Bedard, and Guillem March's Gotham City Sirens collection gets a new collection of issues #1-13. I think Final Crisis, Flashpoint, etc. overshadowed it, but at some point there was an interesting corner of the Bat-verse between Sirens, Detective Comics, and Streets of Gotham; if DC was going to reprint all of those, I might take a look.

• Green Arrow Vol. 2: Here There Be Dragons

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who went out and voted with their wallets for the new collections of Mike Grell's 1980s Green Arrow series. We get a second collection, issues #7-12.

• Green Arrow Vol. 5: The Outsiders War (The New 52)

• Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus Vol. 1

You knew this would come around one of these days -- beginning an omnibus collection set of Geoff Johns's Green Lantern work. This one appears to collect Rebirth and Green Lantern issues #1-25, Green Lantern Corps #1-5, and some extras and specials -- so basically the beginning up through Sinestro Corps War. I know this description omits the Green Lantern Corps issues of Sinestro Corps War; let's wait and see if those don't end up in there after all.

• Green Lantern Corps Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Green Lantern Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Green Lantern: New Guardians Vol. 5: God Killers (The New 52)

• Harley Quinn Vol. 1

• Harley Quinn: Vengeance Unlimited

The next and final collection of the 2000s Harley Quinn series, finishing it up with issues #26-38.

• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Vol. 4

• JLA Vol. 6

The paperback JLA collections continue, with what I thought was a superlative run on JLA by Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke. This volume collects issues #61-76, so from the beginning of Kelly's run through "The Obsidian Age"; there's still fifteen or so issues for a follow-up volume, maybe also with some JL Elite material.

• JSA Omnibus Vol. 2

Finishes up Geoff Johns's run on JSA with issues #26-81. Indeed this does not collect the Paul Levitz issues, #82-87, that closed out the series, but I wouldn't say those were that notable; DC could maybe collect those, Johns's Justice Society of America series that followed, JSA All-Stars, and JSA Presents, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

• Justice League 3000 Vol. 1: Yesterday Lives

• Justice League Beyond: Power Struggle

• Justice League Dark Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Justice League of America Vol. 2

• Justice League Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Larfleeze Vol. 2 (The New 52)

• Martian Manhunter: Rings of Saturn

Thank you, thank you, thank you a second time for buying enough copies of the first John Ostrander/Tom Mandrake Martian Manhunter collection that DC has now solicited a second one. Collects issues #10-17 -- pre-order as soon as you can.

• Movement Vol. 2 (The New 52)

The concluding collection of Gail Simone's Movement.

• New Teen Titans Vol. 1

This collects DC Comics Presents #23 and New Teen Titans #1-8. Because this is likely being published solely because of the 50th anniversary celebration (see farther down), I wouldn't get too excited that this is going to lead to a string of "complete" Titans trades, much as I might like that.

• Nightwing Vol. 1: Bludhaven

The collection that will probably make most of our regular readers the most happy, it's a new set of Nightwing collections; this one collects the post-Prodigal miniseries by Dennis O'Neil, and then the first eight issues of Chuck Dixon's Nightwing series. I would love, love, love to see this collection series continue and fill in the big gap of uncollected Nightwing material -- this is another one to pre-order.

• Nightwing Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Red Lanterns Vol. 5: Red Daughter of Krypton (The New 52)

Collects the Green Lantern/Red Lantern #28 flipbook, Red Lanterns #27 and #29-31, and also Supergirl #28-30. The fifth Supergirl collection only inclues issues up to #25, so it remains to be seen if Supergirl Vol. 6 will duplicate some of these contents or not.

• Sandman: Overture Deluxe Edition

So you know, looks like the first collection of Sandman: Overture drops in March 2015.

• Scooby-Doo Team-Up

• Scribblenauts Unmasked: A Crisis of Imagination

• Secret Origins Vol. 1

• Secret Six Vol. 1: Villains United

It took me a while to get in to Gail Simone's Secret Six, but by the end I absolutely loved it. I don't think most realize how psychologically complex (and socially progressive) the series is, and I've yet to see something else like it from DC since. This new collection of trades under the Secret Six banner, collecting the Infinite Crisis/Villains United specials to start, shows the series hasn't been forgotten by DC, either.

• Showcase Presents Unknown Soldier Vol. 2
• Showcase Presents: Batman Vol. 6
• Showcase Presents: Blue Beetle
• Showcase Presents: Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew
• Showcase Presents: The Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 5

Chiefly I'm interested here in the Blue Beetle collection, which collects the entirety of Len Wein's 1980s Ted Kord/Blue Beetle series (only too bad it's not in color).

• Sinestro Vol. 1

• Smallville Season 11 Vol. 5: Olympus

• Spectre Vol. 2: Wrath of God

Thank you, thank you, thank you a third time for picking up the first new John Ostrander/Tom Mandrake Spectre collection; this is another one I've wanted to see collected for a while. The third volume includes issues #13-22, including Phantom Stranger, Etrigan the Demon, John Constantine, Eclipso, and Superman.

• Suicide Squad Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Superboy Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Supergirl Vol. 5: Out of the Past (The New 52)

• Superman - Action Comics Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Superman for All Seasons Deluxe Edition

I really like this Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale story of Clark Kent in Smallville, and I'm rather surprised to see it doesn't have a deluxe edition already.

• Superman Unchained Vol. 1 (The New 52)

• Superman Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Superman: Return to Krypton (The New 52)

• Superman: The Power Within

This is an odd one, but taken from the same era as the recent Superman: Dark Knight Over Metropolis collection, so I'm glad to see it coming out. It collects Superman stories from Action Comics Weekly #601-641, and then what seems to be one or two parts of "The Sinbad Contract" storyline that saw Superman and Lex Luthor vying over a Middle Eastern boy with super-powers (his ethnicity wasn't a major factor in the story, but later Chris Roberson would want to use Sinbad in Superman: Grounded but the issue was yanked by DC). I'm pretty sure the tie in all of this is that they're all written by Roger Stern and drawn by classic Superman artist Curt Swan.

• Superman/Batman Vol. 2

• Superman/Wonder Woman Vol. 1

• Swamp Thing Vol. 5: The Killing Field (The New 52)

• Tales of the Batman: Len Wein

• Teen Titans Vol. 5: The Trial of Kid Flash (The New 52)

• Teen Titans: A Celebration of 50 Years

No word on the contents yet, but I'd be curious to see if the latest New 52 incarnation gets a nod or not.

• Trinity of Sin - Phantom Stranger Vol. 3: The Crack in Creation (The New 52)

• Trinity of Sin: Pandora Vol. 2 (The New 52)

• Wonder Woman Vol. 5 (The New 52)

• Worlds' Finest Vol. 4 (The New 52)

Well, I'm exhausted. You? Congrats to everyone who's been waiting years for new Chuck Dixon/Nightwing collections. What's at the top of your pre-order list?